Barbara Orser

Professor Emerita

B.A. (Hon.) (Waterloo), M.B.A. (Schulich, York), Ph.D. (Bradford)

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Biography

Professor Orser’s research and advocacy focus on entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment. She has served in advisory roles with Women20 Delegation Canada and the Gender & Trade Advisory Group (Global Affairs Canada), as well as on the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship editorial board and the Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy Research Group board.

Professor Orser chaired the Taskforce for Women's Enterprise Growth (2009 to 2011), a Canadian non-partisan consortium of prominent women business owners, service agencies, academics and industry associations. Prior to joining the Telfer School of Management in 2005, she was an associate professor at Carleton and Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan) universities and program manager of the Conference Board of Canada Centre of Excellence for Women's Advancement.

Research Interests

Research areas

Entrepreneurial Feminism Small Business Finance Small Business Growth Women’s Economic Empowerment Women’s Enterprise Policy

Pillars

Wealthier

Publications during the last 7 years

Papers in Refereed Journals

Alakaleek, W., Cooper, S., Orser, B., Harrison, R. Navigating gender and culture in constructing network ties: perceptions and behaviors of women founders in Jordanian digital businesses. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, ().
Peter, W., Orser, B. Women entrepreneurs in rural Nigeria: formal versus informal credit schemes. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, ().
Orser, B., Elliott, C. A conceptual model and assessment criteria to inform gender-smart entrepreneurship education and training plus. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 37(3): 360-387.
Orser, B. Building back better through feminist entrepreneurship policy. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship.
Henry, C., Coleman, S., Orser, B., Foss, L. Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy and Access to Finance in Different Countries: An institutional perspective. Entrepreneurship Research Journal, 12(3).
Orser, B., Liao, X., Riding, A.L., Duong, Q., Catimel, J. Gender-responsive public procurement: strategies to support women-owned enterprises. Journal of Public Procurement, 21(3): 260-284.
Henry, C., Coleman, C., Foss, L., Orser, B., Brush, C.G. Richness in Diversity: Towards more contemporary research conceptualisations of women’s entrepreneurship. International Small Business Journal, 39(7): 609–618.
Nitani, M., Riding, A.L., Orser, B. Self-employment, gender, financial knowledge, and high-cost borrowing. Journal of Small Business Management, 58(4): 669-706.
Orser, B., Coleman, S., Li, Y. Progress or pinkwashing: Who benefits from digital women-focused capital funds? Small Business Economics, 55: 363–387.
Orser, B.J., Riding, A.L., Li, Y. Technology adoption and gender-inclusive entrepreneurship education and training. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship.
Orser, B.J., Riding, A.L., Weeks, J. The Efficacy of Gender-Based Federal Procurement Policies in the United States. Small Business Economics, 53(2): 491-515.

Books

OECD, Henry, C., Orser, B., Coleman, S., Potter, J., Halabisky, D. Entrepreneurship Policies through a Gender Lens. Paris, France: OECD, 2021.

Chapters in Books

Orser, B., Bokhari, K., Richard, T. “Canada” in Entrepreneurship Finance Policies. In OECD Studies on SMEs and Entrepreneurship. Paris, France: OECD, 2024, (Accepted).
Orser, B. Strategies to Redress Entrepreneurship Gender Gaps in Canada Revisited. In Henry, C., Coleman, S., Lewis, K., Foss, L. Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy: A Global Perspective. London: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022, (Accepted).

Invited Contributions and/or Technical Reports

Orser, B., Elliott, C., Elam, A., Brush, C., Shankar, A.. 2023. "Gender-Smart Entrepreneurship Education and Training (2.0)", Access at https://geet.uottawa.ca/.
Thomas, M., Gregson, G., Orser, B.. 2022. "Gender-smart Entrepreneurship Education & Training Plus (GEET+) Action Strategy", Access at: https://weiforward.org/wei-global-institute/women-entrepreneurship/.
Al-Dajani, H., Bennett, D., Orser, B., Rambo, K., Thomas, M.. 2020. "Advancing Enterprise Education for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics among MENA Countries", Access at https://www.g20-insights.org/policy_briefs/advancing-enterprise-education-for-women-in-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem-among-mena-countries/.
Nefesh-Clarke, L., Orser, B.J., Thomas, M.. 2020. "COVID-19 Response Strategies, Addressing Digital Gender Divides", Access at https://www.g20-insights.org/policy_briefs/covid-19-response-strategies-addressing-digital-gender-divides/.
Orser, B., Riding, A.L.. 2020. "Financial Knowledge & Financial Confidence — Closing Gender Gaps in Financing Canadian Small Businesses", Access at https://www.scotiabank.com/women-initiative/ca/en/posts.financials.articles.gender-research.html.
Orser, B., Elliott, C.. 2020. "Gender-Smart Entrepreneurship Education & Training Plus (GEET+)", Telfer School of Management, Ottawa, ON, Canada, Access at https://telfer.uottawa.ca/en/geet/.
Orser, B., Elliott, C., Cukier, W.. 2019. "Strengthening Ecosystem Supports for Women Entrepreneurs", Telfer Centre for Executive Leadership in collaboration with Ryerson Diversity Institute. Access at telfer.uottawa.ca/i2-report.
<em>(Book review)</em> Orser, B.. 2020. "FEMINISM: A Key Idea for Business and Society".

Funded Research during the last 7 years

Funded Research during the last 7 years
From-To	Source	Title	Purpose	Type	Role	Amount
2022-2024	CIHR	The Life-Threatening Illness National Group (LifTING) Research Training Platform	R	C	Co-A	$2,399,711
2020-2022	Enterprise Holdings Foundation	Entrepreneurial Feminism Project ($5,000 per annum for 3 years)	O	F	PI	$15,000
2020-2021	SSHRC	Gender-smart Entrepreneurship Education & Training Plus	R	C	PI	$99,659
2018-2020	SSHRC Partnership Grant	Financial literacy and Canadian business owners	R	C	Co-I	$24,900
2018-2019	SSHRC Insight Grant	Overconfidence in financial decisions among self-employed Canadian	R	C	Co-I	$34,000
2018-2019	Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship	Inclusive Innovation (I2) Action Strategy in collaboration with Ryerson Diversity Institute	C	G	PI	$224,900
2018-2019	SSHRC Partnership Grant	Federal SME Procurement, in collaboration with Public Services and Procurement Canada	R	C	PI	$24,900
2017-2020	Status of Women Canada	Empowering Women Leaders in Health: Health Care, Health Sciences & Indigenous Health	S	O	Co-I	$400,000

LEGEND:

Role
PI = Principal Investigator | Co-I = Co-Investigator | Co-PI = Co-Principal Investigator